How to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Providing food, nest boxes, nesting materials, water, and natural habitat can attract birds to our backyards, giving us much nicer views of them and, when done properly, making life easier for the birds. Attracting birds is also a great way to introduce young people to nature, and it's something the whole family can share. Having a bird-friendly yard has never been more important – nearly 80 percent of wildlife habitat in the United States is in private hands, and an average of 2.1 million acres each year are converted to residential use.

How do you begin?

An easy way to start out attracting birds is to put up a bird feeder. We'll help you choose feeders and foods that appeal to the birds you want to attract, plus we'll tell you where to put your feeder and how to maintain it. And we can give you some hints about food items, such as eggshells, fruits, and mealworms, that provide extra nourishment for some wonderful species.
Some birds, especially woodpeckers and chickadees, excavate cavities in tree trunks for nesting and roosting. Many other species, such as wrens, bluebirds, and some ducks and owls, nest in cavities that other birds have made. Nest boxes offer these birds a place to raise their young, especially where natural cavities are at a premium. Our nest box section describes the features of a good nest box, where to place it, and how to avoid predators. Our nesting section also lists some nesting materials you can offer that will help a wide variety of species.


A source of clean water, for drinking and bathing, may attract birds that don’t visit feeders. We can help ensure that your water helps birds, not mosquitoes or algae. And we've got ideas for other great attractants, too, such as building a brush pile.

The Big Picture: Landscaping

How we landscape our yard and deal with insects and weeds can make the difference between a bird haven and a pile of problems. Our landscaping section is full of tips to help you make your backyard a place where birds thrive.

Problems?

Attracting birds to your property is full of rewards, but it brings problems and responsibilities too. From too many starlings or geese to woodpecker holes in your house, our problems section offers advice to help solve these and many other problems.

Building Photography Skills

The images take your breath away—birds frozen in flight or with feathers fanned for a graceful mating dance. The images are captured by photographers from all corners of the world. You may never make it to Zanzibar on a shoot for National Geographic, but even in your own backyard, you can up the “wow” factor in your bird photography. This is not an exhaustive discussion of bird photography, or a debate on the merits of digital vs. film or specific brands of equipment. But we do hope this overview gives beginning photographers something to think about and a few techniques to try.

Basic Elements

Beyond the mechanical aspects of picture-taking, which nearly anyone can learn, there is an indefinable “something” that transforms an image into a work of art. People with this ability have an “eye” for composition, color, and shape. What they come by naturally, the rest of us can learn with practice, book-learning, and by studying the work of photographers we admire. With that in mind, consider the following crucial elements in any outstanding image:


Lighting

“The angle, intensity, and hue of your light source can make or break a picture,” says photographer Tim Gallagher. He feels the best times to shoot are morning and late afternoon when the light is angled, warmer, and more subdued. “It brings out all the color and texture of your subject's plumage,” Tim says.
It’s harder to take a good picture in the middle of a bright, clear day because images end up with too much contrast, washed-out light-colored areas, and inky black shadows. Having the source of light behind and slightly to one side of you creates a more three-dimensional subject. Having your subject backlit rarely works well unless you’re deliberately going after a silhouette


Framing
Professionals usually avoid placing any subject in the exact center of a photograph. It is much more visually stimulating to see the bird off to one side, facing inward. Our own eyes naturally follow the same trajectory. Likewise, avoid placing the horizon line in the middle of a picture which cuts it in half and usually looks bad. It's better to frame the horizon in the top or bottom third of your photograph.
In the case of a flying bird, leave space in front of it, so it appears that the bird has somewhere to go. “It’s not necessary to have an expensive camera and lens to get quality bird-in-flight photos,” says professional photographer Steve Wolfe. “All you need is a decent camera with auto-focusing capabilities, a red-dot sight to track the bird’s flight—plus patience, perseverance, and practice!”


Non-bird elements in your picture can add or detract from a pleasing composition. Branches, shrubbery, rocks, and flowers can be a distraction—or they can be used artfully to frame the bird within the picture.
Wildlife photographer Marie Read points out, “Birds don’t live in a vacuum. Showing the bird-habitat relationship is a compelling way to help others understand and appreciate the fascinating complexity of the natural word—and to tell a story.”
Although you want to avoid having a branch right behind the bird, looking like it’s growing out of its head, incorporating some part of the bird's habitat into the shot usually makes it better. If the background is too busy, try opening the aperture more to blur the background and make your subject stand out.
Angle
You can shoot from a position that is higher than your subject, lower, at eye-level, or somewhere in-between. One position may be preferable over another depending on the terrain and what species of bird (or group of birds) you’re trying to photograph. But it’s important to consider this ahead of time.
“Shooting from bird’s-eye level results in dramatic photos with an intimate feeling to them that you don’t get when the bird is viewed from above,” says Marie Read. To get closer to wary birds, Marie suggests wearing muted clothing, hiding behind vegetation, and moving slowly in a zigzag pattern low to the ground. Bird blinds also work very well.
Knowledge
To be the best bird photographer you can be you really have to know birds. Then you know where you’re likely to find them and what they might do next. For example, berry bushes attract Cedar Waxwings; herons haunt the edges of marshes and ponds; waterfowl often rest and preen in the same spot every day.
“You’ll develop an almost intuitive sense of when a bird is going to fly,” says wildlife photographer Bobby Harrison. “Before a bird takes flight, it often stands very alert, turning its head in all directions. It also turns into the wind.”

Parting Shots

All the professionals quoted in this overview agree that the key to improving your bird photography is to spend a lot of time in the field and don’t be afraid to experiment!

white throated fantail

The White-throated Fantail (Rhipidura albicollis) is a small passerine bird. It is found in forest, scrub and cultivation across tropical southern Asia from the Himalayas, India and Bangladesh east to Indonesia. The White-spotted Fantail, (R. albogularis) until recently was considered a subspecies.

The adult White-throated Fantail is about 19 cm long. It has a dark fan-shaped tail, edged in white, and white supercilium and throat. There is otherwise much variation in plumage between races. Most resemble the Himalayan R. a. canescans which is mainly slate grey above and below, with a black eye mask, and a white throat and eyebrow.

The White-throated Fantail lays three eggs in a small cup nest in a tree.

The White-throated Fantail is insectivorous, and often fans its tail as it moves through the undergrowth.

Birds use the same song year after year, with progressively small changes, with the result that the song sounds very different after 4–5 years. The male's call is a valuable tool in detection and identification of the bird, which can often be confused with the White-browed Fantail, R. aureola, where their ranges overlap. R. aureola has light underparts and prominent spots in two rows on the wings. Its call is rather functional, and not as pleasant and aesthetic as that of R. albicollis.

Brahminy Kite

The Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) also known as the Red-backed Sea-eagle in Australia, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards and harriers. They are found in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. They are found mainly on the coast and in inland wetlands where they feed on dead fish and other prey. Adults have a reddish brown plumage and a contrasting white head and breast which makes them easy to distinguish from other birds of prey.



The breeding season in South Asia is from December to April.[7] In southern and eastern Australia, it is August to October, and April to June in the north and west.[8] The nests are constructed of small branches and sticks with a bowl inside and lined with leaves, and are sited in various trees, often mangroves.[8] They show considerable site fidelity nesting in the same area year after year. In some rare instances they have been seen to nest on the ground under trees.[9][10] A clutch of two dull white or bluish-white oval eggs measuring 52 x 41 mm is laid. Both parents take part in nest building and feeding but it is suggested that only the female incubates. The incubation period is about 26 to 27 days.[11]

It is primarily a scavenger, feeding mainly on dead fish and crabs, especially in wetlands and marshland[7] but occasionally hunts live prey such as hares and bats.[12] They may also indulge in kleptoparasitism and attempt to steal prey from other birds.[13] A rare instance of a bird feeding on honey at the hive of Apis florea has been recorded.[14]

Young birds may indulge in play behaviour, dropping leaves and attempting to catch them in the air.[15] When fishing over water, they may sometimes land in the water but manage to swim and take off without much trouble.[16]

They roost communally on large and isolated trees and as many as 600 have been seen at just one location.[17]

They may mob larger raptors such as the Aquila eagles. In some incidents where Brahminy Kites mobbed Steppe Eagles (Aquila rapax), they were attacked and injured or killed.[18]

A number of ectoparasitic bird lice in the genera Kurodaia, Colpocephalum and Degeeriella have been reported

The Green Bee-eater

The Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis) (sometimes Little Green Bee-eater) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family. It is resident but prone to seasonal movements and is found widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal and the Gambia to Ethiopia, the Nile valley, western Arabia and Asia through India to Vietnam.[2] They are mainly insect eaters and they are found in grassland, thin scrub and forest often quite far from water. Several regional plumage variations are known and several subspecies have been named.


Like other bee-eaters, this species is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is about 9 inches (16–18 cm) long with about 2 inches made up by the elongated central tail-feathers. The sexes are not visually distinguishable. The entire plumage is bright green and tinged with blue especially on the chin and throat. The crown and upper back are tinged with golden rufous. The flight feathers are rufous washed with green and tipped with blackish. A fine black line runs in front of and behind the eye. The iris is crimson and the bill is black while the legs are dark grey. The feet are weak with the three toes joined at the base.[3] Southeast Asian birds have rufous crown and face, and green underparts, whereas Arabian beludschicus has a green crown, blue face and bluish underparts. The wings are green and the beak is black. The elongated tail feathers are absent in juveniles. Sexes are alike.[2]

The calls is a nasal trill tree-tree-tree-tree, usually given in flight.[3]
Taxonomy
Race orientalis from Coimbatore, India

Several populations have been designated as subspecies:[4]

    viridissimus is found from Senegal to northern Ethiopia (has more green on the throat, crown and nape with long streamers)
    cleopatra from the Nile Valley to northern Sudan
    flavoviridis from northern Chad to Sudan
    muscatensis on the Arabian plateau (more yellowish green with narrow gorget on throat)
    cyanophrys found in Israel and the Arabian region (includes meccanus)
    beludschicus(=biludschicus[5]) Iran to Pakistan (paler colours with a blue throat)[6]
    orientalis in India and Sri Lanka (has head and neck tinged with rufous)
    ferrugeiceps (=birmanus) in northeastern India, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam (has rufous crown, name and mantle)
    ceylonicus in Sri Lanka has the nape and hindneck with more pronounced golden brown sheen[7] often included within the nominate race

A study of species within the genus Merops based on plumage characteristics found that most of the subspecies of orientalis grouping together with the most similar species being Merops leschenaulti and subspecies ferrugeiceps appeared closer to that group.[8]

This is an abundant and fairly tame bird, familiar throughout its range. It is a bird which breeds in open country with bushes. In Africa and Arabia it is found in arid areas, but is more diverse in its habitats further east. This species often hunts from low perches, maybe only a metre or less high. It readily makes use of fence wires and electric wires. Unlike some other bee-eaters, they can be found well away from water.[4]

They are mostly see in the plains but can sometimes be found up to 5000 or 6000 feet in the Himalayas. They are resident in the lowlands of South Asia but some populations move seasonally but the patterns are not clear,[3] moving away to drier regions in the rainy season and to warmer regions in winter.[4] In parts of Pakistan, they are summer visitors.[

Like other species in the genus, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and ants, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. Before swallowing prey, a bee-eater removes stings and breaks the exoskeleton of the prey by repeatedly thrashing it on the perch. Migration is not known but they make seasonal movements in response to rainfall.[2] These birds are somewhat sluggish in the mornings and may be found huddled next to each other on wires sometimes with their bills tucked in their backs well after sunrise. They sand-bathe more frequently than other bee-eater species and will sometimes bathe in water by dipping into water in flight.[4] They are usually seen in small groups and often roost communally in large numbers (200-300). The birds move excitedly at the roost site and call loudly, often explosively dispersing before settling back to the roost tree.[11] The Little Green Bee-Eater is also becoming common in urban and sub-urban neighborhoods, and has been observed perching on television antennae, only to launch into a brief, zig-zag flight formation to catch an insect, then return to the same perch and consume the meal. This behaviour is generally observed between the hours of 7:00 and 8:00am, and after 4:00pm.
Sand bathing.

The breeding season is from March to June. Unlike many bee-eaters, these are often solitary nesters, making a tunnel in a sandy bank. The breeding pairs are often joined by helpers.[12][13] They nest in hollows in vertical mud banks. The nest tunnel that they construct can run as much as 5 feet long and the 3-5 eggs are laid on the bare ground in the cavity at the end of the tunnel. The eggs are very spherical and glossy white.[3] Clutch size varies with rainfall and insect food density. Both sexes incubate. The eggs hatch asynchronously with an incubation period of about 14 days and the chicks grow fledge in 3 to 4 weeks and in the fledging stage show a reduction in body weight.[14][15]

A study suggested that Green Bee-eaters may be capable of interpreting the behaviour of human observers. They showed an ability to predict whether a human at a particular location would be capable of spotting the nest entrance and then behaved appropriately to avoid giving away the nest location. The ability to look at a situation from another's point of view was previously believed to be possessed only by primates.[16][17]

Riverside habitats were found to support high populations in southern India (157 birds per square kilometre) dropping off too 101 per km² in agricultural areas and 43-58 per square km near human habitations.[18]

They feed on flying insects and can sometimes be nuisance to bee-keepers.[19] The preferred prey was mostly beetles followed by hymenopterans. Orthopterans appear to be avoided.[20] They are sometimes known to take crabs.[21] Like most other birds they regurgitate the hard parts of their prey as pellets.[22]
Race orientalis with a dragonfly in Hyderabad, India.

An endoparasitic nematode (Torquatoides balanocephala) sometimes infects their gizzard.[23]

Black Drongo

The Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) is a small Asian passerine bird of the drongo family Dicruridae. It is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through India and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia. It is a wholly black bird with a distinctive forked tail and measures 28 cm (11 in) in length. Feeding on insects, it is common in open agricultural areas and light forest throughout its range, perching conspicuously on a bare perch or along power or telephone lines. The species is known for its aggressive behaviour towards much larger birds, such as crows, never hesitating to dive-bomb any birds of prey that invades its territory. This behaviour earns it the informal name of King Crow. Smaller birds often nest in the well-guarded vicinity of a nesting Black Drongo. Previously considered a subspecies (Dicrurus adsimilis macrocercus) of the African Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), it is now recognized as a full species.
The Black Drongo has been introduced to some Pacific islands, where it has thrived and become abundant to the point of threatening and causing the extinction of native and endemic bird species there.

The Black Drongo was once considered a subspecies of the Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis),[9][10] a close relative that diverged relatively recently.[9][10][11][12] The two are now considered distinct species,[11][12] with the Fork-tailed Drongo restricted to Africa and separated from the Asian range of the Black Drongo.[11][12]
Seven subspecies have been named[12] but the largely contiguous populations show clinal variation and intergrade with each other. Individuals from northern India (ssp. albirictus) are larger than those from the Sri Lankan population minor while those from the peninsular India (nominate subspecies) are intermediate in size.[13] Race cathoecus is found in Thailand, Hong Kong and China.[14] This race has a much smaller rictal spot and the wings are dark with a greenish gloss.[12] In southern Siam a race thai is resident, but overlaps with wintering cathoecus. Race javanus is found on the islands of Java and Bali. Race harterti found in Formosa has the tail length less than the wing

This bird is glossy black with a wide fork to the tail. Adults usually have a small white spot at the base of the gape. The iris is dark brown (not crimson as in the similar Ashy Drongo). The sexes cannot be told apart in the field. Juveniles are brownish and may have some white barring or speckling towards the belly and vent, and can be mistaken for the White-bellied Drongo. First-year birds have white tips to the feathers of the belly, while second-years have these white-tipped feathers restricted to the vent.[15]
They are aggressive and fearless birds, and although only 28–cm (11–in) in length, they will attack much larger species that enter their nesting territory, including crows and birds of prey. This behaviour led to their former name of King Crow. They fly with strong flaps of the wing and are capable of fast manoeuvres that enable them to capture flying insects.[16] With short legs, they sit upright on thorny bushes, bare perches or electricity wires. They may also perch on grazing animals.[17]
They are capable of producing a wide range of calls but a common call is a two note tee-hee call resembling that of the Shikra (Accipiter badius).


The Black Drongo is found predominantly in open country and usually perches and hunts close to the ground. They are mostly aerial predators of insects but also glean from the ground or off vegetation. They are found as summer visitors to northeastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan but are residents from the Indus Valley until Bangladesh and into India and Sri Lanka.[13] Some populations show seasonal movements[17] that are poorly understood.[18] The Black Drongo can be found in savannas, fields, and urban habitats.
Black Drongos were introduced just before the Second World War from Taiwan to the island of Rota to help in the control of insects. It is believed that they dispersed over the sea to the island of Guam in the 1950s. By 1967, they were the fourth most commonly seen birds in roadside counts on Guam and are today the most abundant bird there.[19][20] Predation by and competition from Black Drongos have been suggested as factors in the decline of endemic bird species such as the Rota Bridled White-eye[21] and the Guam Flycatcher.

Black Drongos become active very early at dawn and roost later than many other birds. They feed mainly on insects such as grasshoppers, cicadas,[24] termites, wasps, bees, ants, moths, beetles and dragonflies. They sometimes fly close to tree branches, attempting to disturb any insects that may be present. They congregate in fields that are being ploughed, picking up exposed caterpillars and beetle grubs. As many as 35 birds have been seen at such congregations. They are also attracted to burning grasslands where insects are disturbed. They appear to avoid flies.[25] They associate with Common Mynas, Cattle Egrets and other birds that share a similar diet and habitat.[26] Drongos benefit from this association and are more successful in their foraging. There is only partial overlap in the insect prey sought by mynas and drongos although in rare instances the drongos may rob prey from mynas.[27] It is said that they imitate the call of the Shikra so as to put mynas to flight and then to steal prey.[28] Similar behaviour, using false alarm calls, has been noted in the Fork-tailed Drongo.[29] There are some cases of the Black Drongo preying on small birds, reptiles, or maybe even bats.[30][31][32][33][34] They have also been on occasion seen feeding on fish[35][36] Flowers of trees such as Erythrina and Bombax may be visited for water and nectar[37] and they are sometimes known to feed on grains.[38] They are only rarely known to take larger arthropods such as scorpions and centipedes.[39][40] They feed on milkweed butterflies that are often avoided by other predators[41] and are known to feed late in the evening or night, often on insects attracted to artificial lights.

Black Drongos breed mainly in February and March in southern India, and until August in other parts of the country. Males and females sing in the mornings during the breeding season. Courtship can include aerobatic chases and they may lock their wings and beaks together, with the pair sometimes falling to the ground. Displays may be made on the ground.[45] Pair bonds are retained for a whole breeding season. The nest is a cup made with a thin layer of sticks placed in the fork of branch, and is built in a week by both the male and female. Eggs are laid close to the first rains in April.[15] The usual clutch is three or rarely four eggs laid in a cup nest placed in the fork of an outer branch of tree. Large leafy tree such as the Jackfruit are preferred. The eggs are pale cream to red with spots and markings and are 26 mm long (1.05 in) and 19 mm wide (0.75 in). The eggs are incubated by both parents and hatch after 14 to 15 days. Nestlings are brooded for the first five days, after which the young are capable of maintaining a fairly constant body temperature.[15] A second clutch may be laid if the first is destroyed.[17] Nests are sometimes built in telephone poles.[46] A nesting territory of 0.003 to 0.012 km² (0.3 to 1.2 hectares) is maintained.[15]
Helpers, offspring from the previous brood, have sometimes been noted to assist in feeding the fledglings at the nest of their parents.[47] Cases of brood parasitism by the Asian Koel have been noted.[48] An average breeding success of 44% has been noted with the main cause of fledgling mortality being shortage of insect food which in turn was dependent on rainfall.

Young birds have a yellowish-red gape. The feather follicles appear on the fourth day and pin feathers emerge after a week. Nestlings increase in weight steadily until they are 12 days old. The eyes open on the eighth day, the iris reddish-black while the gape turns red. The young leave the nest after about 16 to 20 days after hatching. They do not have the fork in the tail until three weeks. The parents continue to feed and protect them for a month. Young birds may beg for food for longer, but are often ignored or chased away by the adults. Birds reach breeding condition in about two years.[15][56]
Play behaviour has been observed with birds dropping a leaf in the air and catching it in mid-air and these may possibly help young birds acquire aerobatic skills.[57]
In southern India, they moult their feathers from June to October. The wing moult begins in July with the first primary and proceeds towards the tenth. Secondaries are replaced from August after the primaries are at the third quill. The secondary moult is not orderly, the 8th and 7th being dropped earlier than the rest. The tail feathers are moulted centrifugally.[15] Seasonal colour changes in the testicular tissues are caused by variation in melanin synthesis, with the dark pigmentation being lost during the breeding season.

Spangled Drongo

For the Asian species sometimes referred to by the same common name see Hair-crested Drongo
The Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus) is a bird of the family Dicruridae.
The Spangled Drongo is the only Drongo to be found in Australia. "Drongo" is Australian slang for "idiot", possibly referring to the bird's uninhibited and sometimes comical behaviour as it swoops and perches in search of insects, small birds and occasionally, small skinks.
Whilst this bird is often silent, it sometimes makes astonishingly loud, complex and entertaining calls that may sound like a "sneeze".
The most remarkable characteristic of its appearance is its tail, which is described by Morcombe as "long, outcurved and forked"[2] and on first examination looks like its feathers are crossed over - like crossing your fingers.
Its basically black plumage is iridescent with blue and purple highlights. When it - seasonally - visits urban areas it is easily tamed by throwing small pieces of raw meat into the air, when it will accurately swoop and catch them mid-air.
The Spangled Drongo is an amazing mimic taking most of her vocabulary from the sounds she hears and weaving them into her own virtuoso aria.


Drongos are altitudinal and latitudinal migrants.
In the high altitude areas around Brisbane, Qld, Australia, they arrive in late spring and leave with their new crop of juveniles in early to mid-summer. Nests are cup shaped in open spaces, where it is difficult for predators to access without being seen, 75% up the canopy. Each year, they produce 3-5 young.